Samba New York! is a leading organization in NYC dedicated to Brazilian samba culture, offering shows, drumming classes, and guided music trips to Brazil. The Estado de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s most prominent newspapers, recently praised Samba New York! as “the most famous and active ‘school of samba’ in New York City.”

Inspired by the famous escola de samba parade associations of Rio de Janeiro, Samba New York’s professional Show Group brings the exhilaration and rich traditions of Brazilian Carnaval to events of all kinds, public and private. The group has been featured on Brazil’s most widely viewed nightly news program (TV Globo’s O Jornal Nacional) as well as on the Dr. Oz Show (Fox) and CBS Early Show in the US.

Samba New York’s performance credits comprise some of the New York area’s most prestigious venues, including the Best Buy Theater in Times Square (opening for the famous Brazilian band, Skank), Joe’s Pub, Brooklyn Museum, and Sounds of Brazil. The group has become a mainstay at the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (serving as the head band twice), while also helping to make the success of such local events as “Samba with the Sea Lions” at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo and the popular Fire On the Water Brazilian boat cruise along the Hudson River.

Samba New York’s clients include Kraft Foods, Pepsi Co., Starbucks, Bloomberg, Carnegie Hall, Macy’s, NIKE, and the State Secretaries of Tourism of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Amazonas States in Brazil, among many others.

Our percussion courses taught by Samba New York’s founder and Director, Philip Galinsky, Ph.D., provide exceptional training in the art of Rio de Janeiro style samba drumming. These classes are the means by which students of all levels can join our community of samba enthusiasts and eventually perform with our Bateria (Drum Section).

But Samba New York! doesn’t stop there! We also offer a cultural immersion trip to Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval, guided by Philip Galinsky, who has 20 years of experience as an ethnomusicologist and percussionist in Brazil.

Philip Galinsky is a percussionist and ethnomusicologist specializing in Brazilian music. He founded Samba New York! in 2003 and is the group’s Director and principal percussionist.

Conducting music research in Brazil since 1993, he has published widely in the field of ethnomusicology, including pioneering work on the pagode samba and mangue beat movements. He holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, where his doctoral dissertation, Maracatu Atômico, was selected for publication in Routledge’s Outstanding Dissertations series. He has taught ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, UC Davis, and Hampshire College, also founding and directing samba ensembles at each of these schools.

As a percussionist, he has studied with such Brazilian master drummers as Jorge Alabê, Jonas de Oliveira (Mestre Jonas), Odilon Costa (Mestre Odilon), Aílton Nunes (Mestre Aílton), Miguel do Repinique, Wagner Bezerra (Boca Rum), Maninho Costa, Dudu Fuentes, and Jorge Martins da Silva, among others.

He has performed in the Rio Carnaval since 1999 with some of the world’s most renowned samba schools, including Mocidade, Salgueiro, and Imperatriz — a rare honor for a non-Brazilian. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Bateria of the Acadêmicos do Cubango Samba School in Rio, led by Mestre Jonas.

Dr. Galinsky has been lauded as one of the foremost educators of Brazilian percussion in the United States. Since 1994, he has taught hundreds of samba students, including the leaders of such groups as Phillybloco, Bloco Maximo, Harlem Samba, Mais Um, and Batala NYC. Since 2003, he has emerged as a leading samba teacher in NYC, conducting regular courses for students of all levels through Samba New York!

From 2008-2013, he led a cutting-edge program in Brazilian percussion for 4th and 5th graders at Manhattan’s PS 234, teaching over a dozen different music styles. From 2009-2012, he was on the faculty of the California Brazil Camp in Cazadero, California.

In addition, he has given workshops or held residencies at such institutions as NYU, City University of New York Graduate Center, Stony Brook University, Drummers Collective, Frederick Douglass Academy, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Michigan, among many others.

A leading authority in the US on Brazilian music, he is available as an educator and specialist in Brazilian percussion for workshops, lecture-demonstrations, private instruction, and performances.

Philip Galinsky is honored to be endorsed by Latin Percussion.